


Sometimes things between them could get awkward.

by Cockbite (personalized_radio)



Series: Assassinations and Feelings [5]
Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF, The Creatures | Cow Chop RPF
Genre: Assassinations and feelings, Fake AH Crew AU, Fake Chop Au, M/M, NovaHD - Freeform, the fakes come to visit!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-01
Updated: 2017-06-01
Packaged: 2018-11-07 13:27:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,237
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11059944
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/personalized_radio/pseuds/Cockbite
Summary: They were two radically different people, was the problem. Hot and cold, doing something much different from what either of them had ever tried before; James bleeding money and Aleks going night after sleepless night budgeting it to take some of the strain off James’ shoulders. They had people to pay, and he and James didn’t mind taking the blunt end of the stick to starting out new and fresh on their own but it still could put a strain on them.And did.Regularly.





	Sometimes things between them could get awkward.

**Author's Note:**

> you can find me at [on Tumblr](https://cockbite.tumblr.com/) if you'd like! I post fake/gta!au stuff :)

Sometimes things between them could get awkward.

They were two radically different people, was the problem. Hot and cold, doing something much different from what either of them had ever tried before; James bleeding money and Aleks going night after sleepless night budgeting it to take some of the strain off James’ shoulders. They had people to pay, and he and James didn’t mind taking the blunt end of the stick to starting out new and fresh on their own but it still could put a strain on them.

And did.

Regularly.

It didn’t help that every time Aleks had a fucking sip of beer, he ended up in James’ bed or James’ in his and then they had to spend the next morning recalibrating their limits, what was okay and what wasn’t going to be talked about and what needed to change.

So, yeah, their relationship had...shifted after they’d left the Hub. Was still shifting, had yet to settle even after the months they had been on their own, just their little crew.

But, above everything - the crew, the...thing that they had going on when the stress was too much, the money and the sleepless nights - was the fact that James was Aleks’ best friend. They’d left the Hub together because they belonged together, in whatever capacity they decided that was. Aleks had given up Sly, James had given up a lot more, they’d set out on their own to pave a different way for themselves and their crew; all of it because they were best friends.

And, because they were best friends, Aleks felt totally justified in his decision to drag James aside the moment Trevor called in that the plane had touched down.

“We’re gonna have to kill them,” James said the moment the door was closed.

“What the fuck are you talking about,” Aleks shook his head, “James, for fuck’s sake, it’s just Geoff and Michael. We’ve met them before. We saw them a few months ago, even.”  
“That was before,” James replied shortly, beginning to pace. He wasn’t ringing his wrists or fidgeting, but the nervous energy vibrating off of him was ruffling even Asher’s feathers and Aleks needed to figure out how to calm him down before he tried to assassinate the Kingpin and got them all killed.

“Dude, listen,” He cut in, “Chill, okay? It’s just Geoff.”  
“But it _isn_ ’ _t_ ,” James insisted, “It _used_ to be ‘just Geoff,’ back when Jordan and Dan ran things. But it’s _us_ now, he can’t look at us and just think ‘oh, shit, it’s Immortal and Nova, those dumbasses from the Hub,’”

“And you think killing him is gonna change how he looks at us?” Aleks raised an eyebrow, “James, first of all; _killing the Kingpin_? Second of all; _killing the Kingpin_ with _Mogar_ here?”

“You could take Jones,”  
“I don’t want to take Jones!” Aleks snapped, “And you’re fucked in the head if you think I’m gonna back you up on that plan.”

James groaned and collapsed onto the couch, leaning on his knees and covering his face with his hand.

Aleks joined him, sprawling out on his side of the couch and letting his arm stretch out just enough to brush against James if he were to sit back.

“You’re flipping shit over this.”  
“It’s _important_ ,” James said through his palms, like Aleks didn’t know exactly how important it was.

“I know,” He nudged James’ foot, “Hey. It’s not all on you.”

James huffed out a heavy sigh, but his tense shoulders drooped and he leaned back to join Aleks in a sprawl. Aleks’ fingers brushed against the back of his neck on accident but Aleks didn’t pull away and James leaned into it, until Aleks’ palm was pressed to his spine and his fingers were loosely gripping where he had initially only been touching.

He could feel the tension under James’ skin, like it was an electrical current that had found an outlet in Aleks, and he didn’t know what to do other than sit quietly until the muscles under his hand had relaxed. They had a good hour before Trevor would be back with Geoff and Michael, Aleks wasn’t in a rush.

“We’ll make it without them,” James finally broke the quiet and he didn’t move away from Aleks so Aleks didn’t move, either, “But it’s gonna be a lot fuckin’ harder.”

“Why would they pull out?” Aleks shrugged, “We’re only a few months in and we’ve already got new contact requests and plans for expansion. This isn’t an interview, it’s an inspection, man. Besides, Aron has cleaned money before and he can do it again. We don’t need them.”

James didn’t respond, but Aleks could read what was going on in his head.

 _Was this a mistake_?

It wasn’t like James to doubt himself like this; if anything, _Aleks_ should have been the nervous one. Strangely, Aleks wasn’t nervous at all. He was with James, he had Trevor and Joe and Aron at his back and Anna and Asher were integrating well and Brett was making frequent trips in and out of Colorado to check in on their progress and make arrangements with prospective buyers. They _didn’t_ need the Cockbites and, even if Fake Chop failed, Aleks had never been one to look back and ask _what if_ instead of appreciating what he’d learned.

“Something else is going on,” he narrowed his eyes, dropping his hand away so he could turn his body to look at James more closely, “What happened?”

“Nothing,” James said but Aleks _knew_ and interrupted him.

“Don’t fuckin’ lie. What happened?”  
James sighed, sitting up again to pull his phone out and toss it to Aleks after unlocking it.

He had a text from Pewdi.

_call me if this doesnt work out xoxo_

Aleks swallowed. “So they’re trying to recruit you again. So, what?”

James didn’t say anything back and Aleks locked his phone again and handed it back.

“You want to go.”

“ _No_ ,” James snapped, turning to look at him fiercely, “Don’t be stupid, Aleks,”

“Then _what_ ,” Aleks glared, “This isn’t like you, dude. You don’t _doubt_ like this.”  
James stood up, fists curled tightly, and started to pace again.

“They don’t think we can do it.” He finally spoke up.

“What, so Felix doesn’t think you can handle the pressure and you fold?”

“I’m not _folding_ ,” James shot him a heated look but didn’t stop moving, “For fuck’s sake, am I allowed to have some fucking misgivings? Am I allowed to be a little unsure, Aleksandr?”  
Aleks put up his hands in surrender, biting back a smile. James wouldn’t have admitted to feeling that to anyone else, Aleks was sure. It sent a small thrill through him, that _he_ was someone James trusted.

But now wasn’t the time for that, goddamn it. For once, he needed to be the solid one.

“Look, let’s do this,” Aleks motioned to the table in front of him and James dramatically plopped down, arms crossed and still glaring. “Just...tell me what’s bothering you. We’ll…” Aleks shifted, uncomfortable, “ _Talk it out_ or some shit. I won’t even make fun of you.”  
“Whatever, Dr. Phil,” James scoffed, but he still stayed sitting and Aleks waited impatiently. They didn’t do the...talking thing, much. James was his best friend, but they were more of a ‘silently work it out sitting next to each other’ kind of relationship then a ‘talking things out’ kind.

“This is the first time I’m in charge, do you get it?”

“You were in charge in the Hub,” Aleks pointed out, “The only difference here is there aren’t as many people saying _no_. It’s just me.”

“Let’s be honest, Aleks,” James rubbed his face, “I wasn’t in charge. I was the last to know about anything; maybe three out of ten of my ideas were ever actually used and maybe one stuck after the initial testing. You were there, dude, you know.”

Aleks knew.  
“But that’s why we left, isn’t it? We wanted more freedom.”

“More freedom,” James leaned over his knees, looking at the floor with a furrowed brow that had Aleks’ own forehead wrinkling. His voice dropped, barely a whisper, like he didn’t want Aleks to hear even while he was saying it, “Aleks, what if we fuck it up?”  
“Then we fuck it up,” Aleks reached out and messed up his hair, laughing when _that_ made James react, swatting at Aleks’ hand with an affronted yell.

“Aleks, you fuck, don’t - Jesus, man, you _ruined_ it!” James shoved at him, his hands moving to his hair and the pensive look on his face melting into annoyance, “You _know_ how hard it is to get this shit under control!”

“But you’re _gonna_ get it under control, aren’t you?” Aleks stood up, rolling his eyes and moving to bat his hands away and untangle the tie from his curls. “Christ, chill. I’ll fix it.”

James grumbled but let him do it, dropping his arms so Aleks could slip the band around his wrist and run his fingers through James’ hair a few times. His arms went around Aleks’ waist, loose and a little unsure, and then firmer when Aleks didn’t shove them off. This was...also not like them, but it didn’t feel _wrong_ either.

They were both quiet, the nervous energy of before slowly leaking away; leaving them in a quiet, almost soft atmosphere. James didn’t let him fuck with his hair often, not outside of their...private meetings, so Aleks didn’t try to prolong the moment. He bunched all of the long curls into one fist and pulled the tie off his wrist, tugging his hair through the tie and twisting here and there until there was the usual bun, if messier and not as tight as when James did it. He pulled once to tighten it up and then just rested his hands on his shoulders, letting out a slow breath when James leaned his head forward to rest on his sternum.

“See?” He offered, going for joking but the words coming out more breathless than intended. He cleared his throat and tried again, “We fucked your hair up and it’s back under control, isn’t it? We’ll do the same here. And we didn’t even need Cockbite to do it.”  
“My hair isn’t a crew,” James grumbled again, voice muffled into Aleks’ shirt, and Aleks felt his skin heating up, a slow spread from his neck and up to his cheeks.

“Close enough, isn’t it?”

James huffed out a laugh and Aleks closed his eyes, beat back everything trying to crawl up from his chest at that sound, and just kept still until James finally gathered himself enough to sit back and drop his arms. Aleks took a step back after a moment, putting a respectable space between them, and dropped back onto the couch.

“You’re pretty good at this whole talking thing,” James smirked at him and Aleks rolled his eyes and refused to admit that his face may have been tomato red, “If only you were as good at hair, huh?”  
“It looks better than usual, motherfucker,” Aleks snipped back, trying not to smile while James reached up to adjust his hair. It really was not nearly as tight as usual, but it wasn’t _horrible_ either.

“Whatever,” James gave up, but Aleks noticed that he didn’t redo it, and stood up, “We need to go get everything in order, dude,”  
“Asher and Anna are taking care of making sure the supplies are good to go and Aron and Joe are clearing up the house so we don’t look like total assholes.”

James paused and then grinned and _there_ was the James Aleks was in - that Aleks knew.

“Let’s go stop them, huh? We wouldn’t want to give Geoff the wrong idea.”

Aleks didn’t hold back the smile that time.

-

“You fuckers are _crazy_ ,” Michael yelled, the blades of the heli nearly drowning him out. His curls were going wild in the blowback, his face flushed and his grin dangerous and wide. Aleks found himself laughing in per exhilaration - the only thing holding him to the heli at this point was the rope ladder he was clinging to for dear life, swaying back and forth as Trevor tried to keep control of the machine above him.

“You should see us on a bad day!” Joe responded, leaning out of the open door next to Michael to start pulling the ladder up. Michael knelt to help and Aleks soon found himself out of the open sky and inside the body of the heli, laying on the floor and still laughing. Joe was trying to hold back his own snickering and it was only setting Aleks off more - fuck, he’d almost _died_.

“You can’t tell me every drop is like this,” Michael looked at him incredulously, even while he was still smiling, “We should be _dead_ ,”  
“Not every,” Trevor agreed, flicking a few switches above his head to begin their trip back to the airfield where they’d picked up the heli, “James and Aleks saved this one for you special,”

“Gee, thanks,” Michael scoffed but his blood was rushing and Aleks could _see_ the excitement under his skin.

“Sorry we don’t go as hard as Los Santos,” Aleks finally caught his breath, “But we make our own fun.”

“No shit,” Michael collapsed into one of the seats while Joe closed the heli door, cutting off the wind from the blades and leaving them in relative safety. Trevor was still flying, though, so Aleks wouldn’t say they were _totally_ safe.

“James and Geoff are coming back in now,” Trevor called back, not taking his eyes off the sky but instead tilting his head back a little so he could be heard more clearly, “We’ll meet them at the field.”

“Great,” Michael looked over Aleks, “I’m going to tell him you guys are fucked up and we need to leave town before you kill us.”  
“Don’t you guys have the _Vagabond_ in your crew?” Joe looked at Michael, innocent and wide-eyed, “That’s a lot scarier than a little ladder climbing.”

“A little _ladder climbing_ ,” Michael gave him two middle fingers, “I was barely in the bird before this asshole took off! Aleks was hanging in hundreds of feet of open air for five minutes!”

“It wasn’t boring, though,” Aleks pointed out and Michael laughed, leaning back in his seat and nodding.

“I’ll give you that. We’ll have to pay you back when you visit Los Santos.”  
“Can’t wait,” Aleks relaxed back onto the floor and took the chance to try to calm his racing heart. He suddenly missed James fiercely, knew he would have had a _blast_ on this drop if he hadn’t been showing Geoff around the place and giving him a rundown of how the business was going. It was Aleks’ job to entertain, though, and if there was one thing he could do it was show someone a good time - and he liked Michael; Mogar was funny as fuck and so _loud_ all the time, there wasn’t a dull moment when he was around. He upped the ante when he was around, and Aleks had known that a drop like this - by heli, on a small lake beach away from the big cities, a few dozen cases of highly explosive materials that Michael worked with every day - would have been right up his alley.

Now, though, he needed to chill out before he gave himself a heart attack. Any other time and the idea of being killed, of dying, wasn’t even something he wanted to think about. But on jobs like this, where the only thing between him and death was some rope and his own grip and his - _their_ \- crew above him, he couldn’t help but feel almost intoxicated by the adrenaline and excitement.

Mogar, he could see, was the same way and it made hanging out with him infinitely easier than if he’d been some suit like back in Russia.

They landed in the airfield maybe forty-five minutes later, just as a limo pulled up to their landing pad and a man with a handlebar mustache and a tux easily slipped out of one of the back door. James followed, wearing some jeans and a sweatshirt and still managing to not look out of place next to Geoff.

Michael was the first to hop out, cupping a hand around his mouth to yell out above the noise of the blades still rotating, “Hey, asshole! Your guys tried to fucking kill me!”

“They should have tried harder, you prick!” Geoff hollered back and Aleks couldn't’ hear it but he saw James cackling beside him.

Joe jumped onto the earth next and Aleks crawled out after, his hands still shaking just a little from the adrenaline rush, his feet touching ground just as the blades finally came to a stop and Trevor popped open his door to trip out of the pilot’s seat, too.

James met him halfway, hands shoved in his pocket and eyebrow raised, “How’d it go?”  
“Success,” Aleks shrugged, “Aron called with confirmation of payment about twenty minutes ago.”

“Perfect.” James checked his phone, “He’ll send it through Cockbite next week.”

“How’d it go with Geoff?” Aleks lowered his voice, eyes flicking behind James to where Michael and Geoff were conversing, heads tilted close together to avoid whatever they were saying being picked up. Geoff was gripping Michael’s shoulder, Michael’s arms crossed but leaning in. Neither of them looked like they were shit talking but with Geoff’s reflective sunglasses and their general _don’t give a shit_ expressions, it was hard for Aleks to read them.

“Fine,” James nodded, “Everyone was on top of their shit today. Anna even had first aid restocked.”

“Maybe our crew isn’t as fucked up as we’d thought,” Aleks teased, turning his gaze to Joe and Trevor, inspecting the heli for any problems before they left it.

“Don’t jinx it,” James nudged him, “Jesus, Aleksandr, we were doing so good!”

Aleks gave him a _what can you do_ look and James just shook his head with an explosive, dramatic sigh but Aleks could see the smile that _almost_ wanted to come out.

They stood together, a comfortable silence between them, and Aleks knew everything was going to be fine.

-

“I’ll be honest,” Geoff took a sip of his whisky and coke, the ice clinking against the tumbler as he tilted it, “When we heard that you guys were splitting from the Hub, people got nervous. Gus, he’s not one for taking chances and you guys were definitely a chance. But me? I knew you’d be fine.”

“Thanks,” James tilted the stem of his beer towards Geoff, “I’m always up for causing a stir.”

“It brings back memories, is all I’m saying.” Geoff rolled his eyes, “Our first operations, clients, heists, that freedom to do whatever the fuck you wanted. Shit, life was a lot simpler back in the day.”

“Good times,” Michael finished off his beer and accepted the one Aleks handed over with a nod of thanks, “Bad pay.”

“Ain’t that the way,” Aleks sighed clinking his beer to James’ in solidarity over being poor as fuck.

“It gets better,” Michael promised, smiling, “You guys are, what, a few months old? Give it a year or two.”

“Jack and I started the Fakes in...o’-eight? And it took a bit before we had enough goin’ to call in more people.”

“You had Gav, though,” Michael hummed, “That probably set you back years,”

Geoff laughed, “Fuckin’ Gav...no, seriously, though,” He tilted his drink towards Aleks, “If you’re anything like Gav, Fake Chop’ll do okay.”

“Me?” Aleks blinked, dropping his beer, “You know I’m _Russian_ , right?”

Michael barked out a laugh, nearly choking on his beer, and Geoff shot him the bird, rolling his eyes.

“I _meant_ ,” He started, “People who have been in this life since they were kids, smartass. I know you’re not fuckin’ British, I think the lack of accent gave it away, dude.”

“You two are definitely different but,” Michael lowered his drink and the easy smile he’d been sporting dropped, too, “It’s the look in your eye. People like you and Gav and Barb, they’ve got it. I could tell the minute I met you that you’d seen the same shit as him.”

Aleks, pasting the smile on his face, downed the rest of his bottle and stood up, “Ah, shit, we’re out of drinks. I’ll go grab some more.”

“Aleks,” James started but Aleks clasped his shoulder as he walked past him, back through the glass door of the house and into the kitchen to escape the sudden suffocation of the porch.

He went about grabbing another box of beers from the fridge and another couple cans of coke and the half empty bottle of whisky that Joe had dropped off before he and the others headed out. It was just the four of them now, drinking out on the back porch while Mishka and Ein ran around in the grass.

He took five minutes to collect himself, open himself another bottle and lean against the counter, run a hand through his hair and try not to think of what Michael said. A look in his eyes, huh?

The worst part, he figured, was that he knew what Michael was talking about. He’d met Gavin once before, when he and James had gone with the Hub to a gathering in Los Santos at Geoff’s request. Gavin was bright and golden and laughed a lot and could easily have sweet-talked every person in that room into dying for him then and there; but when you looked at him, _really_ looked, there was...something in his eyes that was almost like a void. Something that said _there’s nothing I haven’t seen, nothing I haven’t experienced._ Something that spoke of just how long he’d been immersed.

That _Aleks_ might have had that look too was...concerning.

When he came back, arms ladened with alcohol, the three of them were talking about something else and he joined the conversation easily and no one mentioned his abrupt exit. They stayed for a few hours longer, mostly to talk shop and give them some advice on how to increase efficiency in a few places and then to drink every drop of alcohol they had left in the house.

By the time Geoff’s limo pulled up, Michael was fucking sloshed and Aleks wasn’t exactly clear-headed.

“Bye, guys,” Geoff grunted, manhandling his crewmate into the limo - possibly against his will - before turning his head to look at them over his shoulder, “You’re gonna do great, if you stay on track. I’d say call me if you needed anything, but don’t.”

James laughed, almost as loud as Michael but nowhere near as drunk. The Fakes may have been comfortable enough at this meeting to get wasted, but both James and Aleks were still keenly aware of the importance of this meeting. When Aleks was a kid, he’d always wondered what it would be like to work directly under a mob boss instead of just running messages for them - now that he was older, and in America, he was relatively thankful that his boss was someone like the Kingpin and not someone like the guys he’d ran things for. Geoff told them not to call, but he’d personally programmed his number into both of their phones.

“Don’t die on your way home,” Aleks waved and Geoff waved back, Michael awkwardly sticking a hand out through the window to clumsily move back and forth in what Aleks could only assume was a wave, too, and then the limo was pulling away from the two-story house on the outskirts of a Colorado suburb that they called their base of operations.

Watching them go, the warmth of James at his side, Aleks’ pulse picked up.

He followed James inside, his hands steady as he shut and locked the door, Ein at his ankles and jumping on his leg until she heard the lock click and realized she wouldn’t be going out that way. He turned around, pressed his back to the wood, and then James was on him and he was meeting him halfway - dragging him closer and shoving his fingers through his hair, familiar hands on his waist and his jaw, in his hair, down his back and his hands would have down the same but he had them tangled in thick curls. It was a hard kiss, tasted like beer and excitement.

“We did it.” He said, ending on a laugh of incredulousness, when they’d finally broken the kiss.

“We did,” James answered, relieved, and then, quieter, “Come upstairs with me.”

Aleks did.

-

But he didn’t make eye contact with James for days afterward. If Michael and Geoff, who barely knew him, could see so much...Fuck, if they could see so much, then he had no idea what people who did know him could see. What James could see.

He had a lot to hide; from James, from the crew, from the world in general.

He received a pair of golden - actual _real gold_ \- designer sunglasses in the mail four days after Geoff and Michael had left, with a note written in gold sharpie.

 _We stick together, we British_ \- _GF_ the note said and the sender’s address was from Los Santos.

He started wearing the sunglasses.

 


End file.
